Ross Fire in North Texas Reaches 100% Containment After 90,000-Acre Run
The Ross Fire near Palo Pinto, Texas burned about 90,000 acres and destroyed at least 167 structures before crews fully contained it on Sept. 16.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Surfside Beach responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
57 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $19K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 24 | — | |
| 2025 | 31 | +29.2% |
* Well below Surfside Beach's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 3 building fires Surfside Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 8.3% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Surfside Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Fireworks | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 8.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Surfside Beach sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 40,715 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Natural | 4,028 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,888 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,741 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,982 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 2,682 | 18.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 2,550 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 2,500 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 2,200 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 1,765 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 24.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 1,319 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,300 | 16.5 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77541 | 57 |
Six Texas cities with population within ±25% of Surfside Beach. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Surfside Beach.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.